Nicholas Zerbo, 22

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Nicholas Vincent Zerbo, 22, of Rossville, an enthusiastic hockey player whose family remembered him as a loving and compassionate young man, died Saturday at home.

Mr. Zerbo lived in Rossville his entire life, graduating from Tottenville High School.

He played with several youth and junior ice hockey leagues growing up, later joining his high school team.

Mr. Zerbo worked as a delivery person for the New York Daily News. He also volunteered at the St. Francis de Sales School for the Deaf in Brooklyn.

"He had a heart and a spirit that touched everyone he met," said his aunt, Lisa Volpe. "He was the type of kid who never hung up the phone without saying he loved you."

Mr. Zerbo is survived by his parents, Salvatore and Nora; a brother, Christopher, and his maternal grandparents, Louis and Theresa Sassano, and his paternal grandparents, Vincent and Roberta Zerbo.

The funeral will be Tuesday from the Casey-McCallum-Rice South Shore Funeral Home, Great Kills, with a mass at 9:30 a.m. in St. Thomas the Apostle R.C. Church, Pleasant Plains. Burial will follow in Ocean View Cemetery, Oakwood.